After the War
by asplendidsecret
Summary: It's been 21 years since Voldemort was defeated. Lily Potter has started her education at Hogwarts, but between her oldest brother's antics, her evil DADA professor, and her late night adventures, she has a lot on her mind. Equipped with her brothers, cousins, and best friend, Lily has a chance of overcoming the darkness that is once again growing at Hogwarts.


She pulled the drapes back, yawning. Noticing that the angle the sunlight was coming through the tower's window was much too steep, she leapt out of bed. Rummaging through her already messy trunk, she pulled out her slender elm wood wand with one hand while shoving the other through a robe sleeve. Glancing at the mirror mounted next to the door she noticed a mess of tangled red hair, sighing she rushed down the stairs. She'd be lucky to make it to her first class let alone breakfast. How Lily had managed to sleep in so late again was beyond her. As she dashed down the moving staircases, trying not to hop on the wrong one, she thought back to the previous night.

It had been late by the time she had climbed through the portrait hole, the fat lady had scolded her after Lily had woken her up to say the password. The fireplace had died down to just embers and the only people in the common room were a pair of seventh years "studying" in the corner. Lily had gripped the handrail going up the stairs to the first year girls' dormitories, trying not to fall backwards, the world had been dangerously spinning then. She was so tired.

Suddenly her racing thoughts and race through the hall was halted when she slammed into an opening door. She fell flat onto the ground, her books flying across the floor. Tears of embarrassment rose to her eyes when she saw who had opened the door. Scorpius glared down at her with mock concern.

"Oh Potter, are you going to cry again?"

Lily scrambled to pick up all her books, covertly wiping her eyes with her sleeves.

"Seriously Potter, do you need a tissue? Or can your parents not afford any?"

Lily stood up, gripping all her books and fled, tears streaming down her cheeks. Malfoy was too much, especially since her day was already up to a rough start. Pulling the door open to defense against the dark arts, she flinched, waiting for the worst. The class froze.

"Miss Potter." A dark haired professor Wolfe growled, "So lovely of you to join us."

Lily quickly walked to her desk, sliding her stack of books in front of her to hide her bright red face.

"As I was saying before Potter so rudely interrupted me, werewolves are dangerous and should never be approached..."

Lily drifted off after these first few words, it was only the third week of the term and she already hated Defense against the dark arts. Professor Wolfe had a special place in his dark heart for her. It was hard to live down James' reputation for troublemaking and disrespect, and with Lily's exceptional shyness the extra attention she received because of him was unbearable. She mindlessly tapped her wand against the table, tracing the outlines of the etchings made by previous students in the wood. She was in the middle of wondering who belonged to the initials A.J. and F.W. which were contained in a roughly carved heart when a wad of parchment landed on her desk. Smoothing it out she read the words "you okay?" before they disappeared into the page. She glanced over to her best friend, a blonde boy named Arlo Leighton. He was staring back, brown eyes concerned. She shook her head, and mouthed "talk to me after class".

"Excuse me Potter, is my class not interesting enough for you?"

"N-no sir, I mean, it is interesting.."

"Ten points from gryffindor."

Lily could not wait for her least favorite class to end, and the minute it was over she bolted out of the room, not even bothering to write down the homework assignment. She'd get it from Arlo later.

Lily waited in the hall as the students filed out of the class, and she couldn't help but feel as though they were secretly laughing at her. She stared at her shoes and frowned. A hand touched her shoulder and her head whipped up,

"Hey it's just me, it's okay." Arlo said quietly, and they began to walk to their next class, Herbology.

"What happened this morning?" He asked shifting his books in his arms.

"I woke up late again. I need to stop staying up at night but I really can't-"

"Watch out, here comes James."

James was walking through the hall the opposite direction, but the moment he caught sight of his sister he stopped, his friends circling him in the hall.

"Hey Lily! Enjoying your third week?" He smiled that crooked smile that Lily had often seen the moving photos of her grandfather make. It reminded her of trouble.

"James please just leave me alone.." She mumbled.

"Lily, it's my job to make sure you're doing well in school." They both knew he was lying.

"Well, at least to make sure that you're annoying Wolfe for me." His friends laughed. "Hey, here's gift from me to you, ever feel like getting out of class, just eat this."

Lily looked at the candy, immediately recognizing it as a nose blood nougat. She couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips.

"Goodbye James." She said.

James laughed, "Bye sis. Oh and watch out for the nargles downstairs, they bite."

Arlo paled a little but Lily knew better than to believe James' stories.

They walked down the stairs, their footsteps echoing off the tall arched ceilings and stone floors.

"How do you live with him?" Arlo asked, peering around a column, presumably searching for nargles.

"I've never known anything else." Lily laughed.

Alro frowned, "Do you think he was serious about those nargles?"

"Of course not, they don't exist."

Arlo turned scarlet, "So what happened? You never got to finish telling me because of James."

"Oh yeah, well, I stayed up way too late last night and I overslept."

"Why do you keep staying up so late?"

"Uhmm..." Lily awkwardly squirmed, searching for a change of topic, which came in the shape of Professor Longbottom.

"Hello Lily, Arlo. Class is inside today, follow me."

"Why is it inside professor?" Lily asked, she liked Professor Longbottom a lot, he was always at their house on the holidays as well as many other random nights for dinner.

"We've had some issues with the greenhouses, I can't really go into it now.."

He led them into the classroom which was filled with the buzz of conversation.

Lily could tell that the classroom was typically unused, there was dust covering every surface and the old chalkboard was covered in various poorly wiped smears. Pulling out her chair she noticed how dirty it was.

"Hold on I've got it." Arlo said, and he mumbled a spell that made their shared desk and chairs look cleaner than most of the regularly used desks around the school. They sat down and waited for Professor Longbottom to begin his lesson.

"Today we'll be discussing gillyweed. Now, this particular plant is not usually covered in the standard curriculum but I make it a point to teach all my classes about this one, I've found it particularly useful in the past..."

Arlo began scribbling notes, but Lily couldn't help but feel fatigued, the previous night had taken a toll on her mind it seemed. She began drifting off into a world of daydreams, gillyweed, where had she heard that before? Her mind transported her to a summer day spent at her grandmother's house, the burrow. Albus and Rose had their noses stuck in books as usual and she, James, and Hugo had been outside watching Uncle Ron and dad de-gnome the garden.

"After all these years not much has changed with her.. She still makes us do these bloody chores..." Uncle Ron had muttered to Harry before they both burst into laughter.

Moments like these made happiness spread through Lily from her stomach out to her fingers and toes. She didn't always understand the things they'd talk about but she loved the way they'd talk about them.

James had pulled her and Hugo over to the side of the house, "Let's go get into some trouble, I hear there's a lake over that hill.." They had looked at each other skeptically, James was always planning things, but he was also always the one having the most fun.

After a second they both nodded, "We're in." Hugo said decisively.

"Good," said James, giving his familiar smile, "let's go get Rose and Al."

They slipped back into the house, leaving behind the sound of flying gnomes and reminiscing old friends.  
Walking into the kitchen they saw grandma Molly using magic to scrub the plates from breakfast.

"I wish I could use magic like that." Lily whispered to Hugo.

"Yeah," Hugo whispered back, "but there's no way I'm using it to clean."

Lily giggled, and grandma Molly looked up, with a knowing smile. Her hair was filled with gray, but there were still red strands, giving her hair the look of a dying fire. Her kindly wrinkled face looked each of them over, and she rushed to James.

"Don't you ever brush your hair!" She scolded, attempting to smooth James' wild locks. "Oh you're just like your father and grandfather, completely hopeless hair."

James laughed, "We're off to find Rose and Al."

"Off to get those two perfect children into trouble is more like it!" Molly scolded lovingly, "Off you go then."

They walked out to the living room, where Albus and Rose sat reading "Hogwarts: A History" together.

"Come on nerds let's go!" James said, pulling Al's book out of his hands.

Al frowned, ignoring James' insult, "Go where?"

"Swimming of course! I want to know if the local pond has a lake monster like Hogwarts."

"James that's ridiculous." Sighed Rose, sounding remarkably like her mother. "There won't be a lake monster in that pond."

"How do you know? You've never been!"

"I just-"

Rose was cut off when the door opened, sunlight streamed in bringing with it a scratched up Professor Longbottom.

"Geez Harry, it's a good thing you were a seeker and your job was to catch not throw.." Ron laughed.

Harry was still apologizing to Neville over apparently throwing a gnome over the hedge and hitting him with it.

"Harry it's alright!" Said Neville, wincing as he poked at a cut.

"Neville sit here, we'll go get mum to fix you up." Ron and Harry disappeared into the kitchen.

"What are you kids up to today?" Neville tried to smile, which came out more as a grimace.

"Going down to the lake." Said James, matter-of-factly.

"Swimming, huh?" Neville looked up from the gnome scratches, "I don't suppose I've told you lot about the time I thought I killed your father?"

James shook his head, and they sat down eagerly. Their father was often modest, and did not tend to tell personal stories about his time at school, they were often about the bravery of others and didn't feature him.

"Well it was during the tri-wizard tournament,"

"The one our father competed in?" Interrupted James.

"Yes." Neville smiled patiently. "The second challenge was to search for a prize of sorts underwater in the lake for an hour."

"Did anyone get eaten by the lake monster?"

"No James. But as I was saying, your father needed to be able to stay under for an hour. So I gave him some gillyweed, it lets you breathe underwater, you see. He ate it, and dove in. Didn't come up for a while and seemed to be writhing around down there. I was terrified, thought he had drowned because of me. Well, it all worked out and Harry got second place."

"Wow." Breathed Albus.

Harry and Ron walked back in, sporting gills and wigs. They began to talk but no sound came out. Grandmother Weasley came through the door with a bowl of water and a rag.

"It's time to go Lily. Wake up. Let's go." She said.

Lily felt herself being shaken, she bolted awake, not realizing she slept through Herbology. Arlo stood over her, looking concerned.

"Lils it's time for lunch." He said, picking up her books.

She groggily stood up, taking her books from him.

"Thanks." She yawned, and they started walking out of the room.

"Lily are you feeling alright?" Asked a concerned Professor Longbottom.

"I'm fine, didn't sleep well last night is all. I'm sorry for sleeping through your lesson today, Professor.

"It's alright Lily, I can always catch you up over the holidays. Get some sleep tonight." He laughed, but the look of concern didn't leave his face.

They made their way into the banquet hall, which had a bright blue cloudless sky filling the ceiling. Lily sat down across from Hugo and his friend Finley Fawcett, smiling.

"Hello Hugo, hello Fin." She said.

Finley smiled, and Hugo looked up from the pile of sandwiches on his plate.

"How are you, Lily?" Hugo asked, mouth full of food.

"Tired. Do you know she was late to class again today?" Said Arlo, pulling up the seat next to Lily, frowning.

"Again?" Sputtered Hugo, "Lily Professor Wolfe will give you detention one of these days, I know it!"

"I know." Lily said, glaring at her best friend for telling on her.

"Look Lily, I'm just worried about you. You haven't had a full night's sleep since you got here." Arlo said, grabbing a sandwich.

Lily angrily stuffed a sandwich into her mouth. She wished they'd stop bothering her about it.

"Sorry Lils." Arlo mumbled upon seeing her expression.

An awkward silence moved in, which was only broken with Hugo's suggestion to walk the grounds.

Finley grimaced, "I've still gotta finish my essay for History of Magic... I'll meet up with you later."

"Alright, see you in Transfig." Hugo waved, and they watched Finley unroll a very empty piece of parchment as he sped off to the library.

Heading outside into the blinding sunlight, they saw a commotion by the lake.

"Not again." Lily whispered, running towards the lake, the boys following closely behind.

"James!" Lily yelled.

James was showing off again, he somehow had managed to get his broom out of storage along with a snitch, and he was flying around catching it.

He laughed carelessly, "Oh come off it Lily, I'm just having a bit of fun!"

James made what seemed like an impossible dive and caught the snitch, beaming as the students below clapped.

"James you're going to get kicked off the team!" Cried Hugo, he had just gained his spot as keeper on the team, and he didn't want the season to be ruined. Lily often listened to him vent about James' antics.

"Calm down!" James said, making another swoop for the snitch.

Rose and Albus showed up, having an animated discussion about potions, but Al dropped the potions book when he saw his older brother midair.

"James what do you think you're doing?!" screamed Rose.

James rolled his eyes, and landed onto the lawn.

"Looks like the police have arrived." He said sarcastically, and his friends laughed.

"James you need to stop this." Al said quietly, as his green eyes stared piercingly at James.

James frowned, and looked away, trying to shake the gaze.

"Fine." He muttered, shoving through the crowd, heading back up to the school, his friends trailing behind.

Lily watched him, sighing. She didn't understand why James acted out all the time. It wasn't like they didn't have everything they wanted and more.

Hugo attempted to smile, "I'd better get to transfiguration. I'll see you two in the common room tonight."

He waved and headed off to find Fin.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, potions was another one of Lily's favorite classes, but it was rather uneventful that day. After charms class, the first years had the rest of the day off. Lily and Arlo had used the free time to catch up on homework and lay outside on the lush green lawn, enjoying the last few days of summer weather. Soon the sun began to set, so they headed back to the common room.

Finley and Hugo were sitting by the fire, discussing the History of Magic essay that Fin had failed to finish.

"I was only a few inches away from the requirement." Groaned Finley.

"Well there's not much to do about it now, is there?" Said Hugo, waving his wand around, trying to turn his button back into a beetle.

"Evening Potter, Leighton." Sulked Finley, obviously still upset about his essay.

Arlo grinned, "Evening Fawcett."

Lily and Arlo sat down on one side of a couch, on the other side sat Albus and Rose, who were remarkably not buried in their books.

"I don't understand, how could it be missing?" Rose sighed.

"I don't know, it was packed in my trunk but now it's gone!" Albus said, obviously distressed.

"What's gone, Al?" asked Hugo.

"Just a cloak my dad gave me when I came to Hogwarts..." Al stared at his feet.

Lily looked at Al with raised eyebrows. He nodded sadly, rubbing the toe of his trainers on the rug.

"I'm sure you'll find it Al." Lily said encouragingly. "I'm really tired though, I should get to bed."

"Yes, you should." Arlo scolded, "goodnight Lils."

There came a chorus of good night's from around the fire.

"Good night." Lily smiled, and she climbed the stairs to her dorm.

Opening her trunk, she felt around for the familiar material. Pulling out her dad's cloak, she smiled. She wasn't going to sleep just yet.

I hope you enjoyed my first chapter of fanfic ever! Please leave a review to let me know what you think, hopefully I'll be able to upload a new chapter soon. I must warn you though, I am a really slow writer. Have an amazing day :)


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